The 2026 World Baseball Classic is complete, with Venezuela being crowned the champions after defeating the United States 3–2 in the final. Superstar Ronald Acuña adds another trophy to his cabinet, while Royals infielder Maikel Garcia brought home MVP of the tournament. While this tournament was an incredible step in the right direction for baseball, there is still plenty of work to be done that could cement the tournament as a staple in the baseball world. Here are my opinions on what went right and what went wrong on this year’s iteration of the World Baseball Classic.
Insurance hassles
One of the biggest flaws in the current form of the World Baseball Classic is the role that injury insurance plays. Major League Baseball teams have made huge investments to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in the contracts of their players and, therefore, require their players to receive insurance before competing in the WBC. However, this creates issues for older and injury-prone players. For example, in the 2026 WBC, the United States’ former captain Mike Trout was unable to get insurance, along with the two best players on the Puerto Rican national team, infielders Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor. This led to rosters lacking key pieces, which greatly diminished the perceived importance of the event.
Player buy-In
This was the biggest success of the tournament. The players played at full speed, and the competitive energy was through the roof. There was no doubt that every team played to the height of their abilities. The players were emotional, and for Venezuela, it was clear that their win was a huge point of pride for their country. Since they lost, it is easy to say that the United States did not have the same buy-in as the other countries, but it is worth noting that Mark DeRosa, the United States manager, specifically held back relievers to respect the wishes of their MLB teams, while Venezuela did everything they could to win. It is impossible to know what the result would have been if the United States had used its high-leverage relievers on short rest, but in order for the WBC to gain traction in the United States, there needs to be full buy-in from players and MLB teams alike.
Not before the season
Perhaps the biggest flaw in the tournament is that it happens at the same time as Spring Training. This means that the players — and, most importantly, the pitchers — are not built up enough to perform at the best of their abilities. The creators of the WBC know this and set pitch counts for each round of the tournament. This is a huge flaw as it fundamentally changes how the game is played. A huge part of baseball is the ability for a pitcher to dominate a team for the majority of, if not the entire game, leading his team to victory. With the imposed pitch count limits, which were as low as 65 in the opening rounds of the tournament, it is not possible for a singular pitcher to have a profound impact on the game. This leads to teams with more pitching depth having a large advantage. The obvious solution to this problem is to move the tournament to the all-star break. This would complicate things, as the All-Star Game is an MLB tradition that has existed for nearly a century. However, the World Baseball Classic final had 4 million more viewers than last year's All-Star Game, so there is at least an argument to be made that the WBC could draw more attention to the sport.
